Sea Witch
A wicked witch from the depths of the sea. Background The Sea Witch is a fairy tale character from The Little Mermaid ''by Hans Christian Andersen, who makes a deal with a mermaid that has fallen in love with a human prince. The mermaid is willing to trade her voice for a pair of legs in order to join him on land. She needs to make him fall in love with her or perish- when the prince falls in love with someone else, her sisters make a deal with the Sea witch too. She gives them an enchanted knife in exchange for their beautiful ocean-colored hair. The Little Mermaid must kill the prince in order to return to the sea as a mermaid. She refuses and turns into sea foam. In the ''Land of Stories series, the Sea Witch is indeed the one who made a deal with the Little Mermaid. She is still active and willing to make deals; she agrees to trade her jewels for (whoms she thinks is) Queen Red Riding Hood, and trades Dr. Bob's engagement ring for his freedom. The Sea Witch uses her dark magic to grant the wishes of her customers. The payment for her help is usually a black pearl, unless she has her sights on something more precious. The Sea Witch is considered a legend among witches, along with the Snow Queen. She lives in seclusion and is rarely seen and never attends the witches' meetings. Along with the icy sorceress, the sea hag is one of the most powerful sorceresses in the world, so powerful that even Morina is humble before her. The Sea Witch is unique as she is considered a villain though she never really committed a crime. She never forces people to make bargains. However, make no mistake, she is far from good. Appearance "Her skin was pale turquoise and scaled. Tall blades of seaweed grew straight out of her head like hair. She had a wide face, with wide turquoise lips and round insect-like black eyes. She wore a gown made of dark shell that had several mussels and sea polyps growing on it. She walked on six legs, and a pair of claws peeked out from under her gown, as though she was part crustacean."TLOS II, ch 21, p. 386 Personality She surrounds herself with anglerfish, crabs, sea snakes and sharks, and keeps a cuttlefish as a pet. She also keeps prisoners in her cave; presumably "clients" who failed to keep their end of their bargains. She is cruel and evil. She captures sailors and sea creatures of all kinds and feeds them to her army of great white sharks and giant anglerfish. She is greedy. She desires jewels, especially black pearls. However, she will not hesitate something more valuable from her customers such as a mermaid's beautiful song or mermaid hair. She has a love for the macabre which is evident in her bargains and the decoration of her home. She employs gruesome methods in her spells like the knife and her home is decorated with the carcasses of aquatic life. Red Riding Hood described her as "disgusting and complicated for sport." She continues to state that the sea hag "enjoys being grotesque and difficult." Relationships In Beyond the Kingdoms, she visits the other witches at their monthly gathering together with the Snow Queen. The other witches are terrified of them and even bow.TLOS IV, ch 29, p. 404 It is revealed that she has worked together with the Snow Queen to curse Ezmia and use her as a weapon to take over the Land of Stories and the Otherworld, and when Ezmia was defeated by Alex, they shifted their focus on her and tried to curse Alex. Their curse wasn't strong enough and they ask the other witches to join them.TLOS IV, ch 29 p 405 Powers and Abilities * 'Witchcraft: '''As a witch, the sea sorceress could wield her kind's branch of magic. She, along with the Snow Queen, crafted a spell capable of amplifying a creature's negative emotions to the point of corruption. She also had the power to change a mermaid into a human and she crafted the magic knife to break her transformation spell. ** '''Longevity: '''Her witchcraft has allowed her to live centuries longer than an ordinary mortal. She has lived before the sleeping curse was cast and before Ezmia's corruption(since she was responsible for it). It is presumed that the Little Mermaid loved an ancester of one of the monarchs, further implying her longevity. * '''Shapeshifting: '''In her battle with with Connor, Alex, Jack, Froggy and Goldilocks, the Sea Witch grew in size. * '''Dermal armour and weaponry: '''The Sea Witch had the thick shell and sharp claws of a crab. A snap from her claws could be potentially fatal. * '''Aquatic animal control: '''The Sea Witch trained scores of deadly sea creatures to do her bidding from crabs to gigantic anglerfish. She trained her pet cuttlefish to identify a person by tasting their blood and she had trained great white sharks as guards, an army and as mounts. Story 2. The Enchantress Returns Jack, Froggy, Goldilocks and the twins go to the Sea Witch's cave to offer her a deal: "Queen Red Riding Hood" (Goldilocks in disguise) for her jewels. The Sea Witch is very supicious of her "clients" and tests Goldilock's blood to see if she is really of royal blood. When she turns out not to be, the Sea Witch sets her sea creatures on them. They barely escape, but have the jewels. 4. Beyond the Kingdoms The Sea Witch and the Snow Queen meet with Morina and the other witches to make a plan to curse Alex and use her to conquer the Otherworld. They reveal that they knew of the Otherworld for centuries and conspired together to take over our world. They knew of the Otherworld's advanced technology and revealed that they cursed Ezmia, amplifying her negative emotions until they consumed her and changed her into a dark fairy. After her defeat, the witches set their sights on Alex. Quotes * ''"Customers." * "Welcome, fellow vertebrates, to my underwater underworld." * "You insult me with your offer." * "You are just a large frog and two children. Tell me how you aquired a queen." * "I believe we have a deal." * ''"By combining our magic, we can cast a curse on Alex Bailey so powerful, she'll never recover from it!"''TLOS IV, ch 29, p. 406 References